fort. A family by the name of Russell entertained travelers. The next was Fort Jennings no fort standing here. One family lived here, and were the last white people we saw until we reached Fort Defiance. We were now truly in the wilderness. On one side the River Auglaize, on the other a vast,
wooded country, with no roads, only an Indian trail along the river. It required a man to go ahead
with an ax in order to cut away trees that had fallen across the trail, and to blaze the trees, and often
to cut through the brush some distance to get a place to ford the streams tributary to the Auglaize .
The weather was unusually fine, so the family did not suffer much inconvenience in camping out.
After we left Fort Jennings, brothers James and Robert took all the cattle and hogs (except one cow
with a calf too young to travel with the herd) forward to Fort Defiance, where brother Robert, a lad
thirteen years of age, remained to take care of them, and brother James returned to the family, meeting us at the mouth of the Little Auglaize, fifteen miles above Fort Defiance. After assisting
us to ford the stream, he left us for Fort Finley, for the purpose of conveying the provisions stored
there, to Fort Defiance, for the subsistence of the family. Brother James made the journey through the unbroken wilderness alone, on foot, provided with his compass,gun,ammunition, flints,and his blanket. Our parents had great fears that James would fall a prey to wild animals or Indians, but he got safely through, and, purchasing a pirogue, took the provisions down Blanchard's Fork to the Auglaize, and from thence on that river to Fort Defiance. These provisions had been raised the previous summer, with the expectation that the future home of the family would be Fort Finley. My father and two other farmers of Ross County, Messre and Moreland and Beaver, when viewing the country, had selected Fort Finley as the place of their settlement, and in the spring of 1821 they each sent out a four horse wagon with plow, seed corn and potatoes, also a stock of provisions and a few hogs. Two men were sent with each wagon, making a patty of six men. My brothers James and Elias took father's team. They cleared and fenced land, and put in corn and potatoes. When the summer's work was done, one man each, with the wagons returned home, leaving a horse apiece for the three men remaining. Brother James remained, and brother Elias returned.
Now, to fatten the hogs, slaughter and pack them down, and store the corn and potatoes for the winter,was the work of those remaining; then they left all in the care of Mr. Cox's family the only white resident there and returned to their homes. The horse left for brother James got away and went home. The alarm at home was very great when the horse came without its rider; all were sure he had been killed until s letter explained.
Having heard much of the Fort Defiance region, brother James went there before coming home, and was so captivated with it that, on his return, he persuaded father to change the location of his future home from Fort Finley to Fort Defiance.
Nothing of interest transpired after brother James left us for Fort Finley, until we came to Okonoksee;s village, on the Auglaize, thirteen miles above Fort Defiance, where Charloe now stands. These Indians were of the Ottawa nation, called by the whites Tawas
They had here a reservation of five miles square. Okonoksee was the chief, and the village was called after him
The Indians were all at home, it being the close of hunting and sugar making seasons. Many came out men, women and children to see us. They were civil, and manifested a curiosity to see the big horse and the big wigwams on wheels, examining the cover, how it was kept on, and often exclaiming "Ugh! big pashekoksee;" meaning big horse. This was a great day with them, being the day for their yearly feast and dance to celebrate the close of the hunting and sugar making seasons. (It was their custom to also celebrate yearly their corn harvest.)
Brother Elias and sister Mary went into the village to see the big bear roasting. The bear was skinned nicely, all except his feet, and rested on his hind-paws on the ground, while the fore-paws were suspended to upright poles. The fire almost surrounded him.
Their corn-fields were on the opposite side of the river, where the farm of Robert Shirley,Jr., is now located.
After we left the village, we hastened on as fast as possible, to get out of the reach of the Indians before they began their drunken dance. At noon we halted for rest and dinner, to our great discomfiture, we found we were without anything to strike fire, James having been given all the flints and powder, excepting what was packed in the large chest at the bottom of the wagon.
Mother had given the little Indian papooses at the village all the bread we had, and we could not have any dinner. We let the horses rest and eat and then pushed on, hoping to come to an Indian camp,or fire left by them, but were disappointed. Night came on, and we prepared to spend it the best we could. The horses were tied and fed; the feed-box was always taken from the rear end of the wagon, and firmly fixed on the tongue of the wagon, and the horses tied on either side of it. The family, without supper and without fires to keep off the wild animals, were arranged as follows; Father and brother Elias lay under the wagon, mother, the three daughters and baby brother slept in the wagon.
The cow, perceiving danger, got her calf close to the wagon, and then lay close to it on the outer side. The w olves howled alarmingly near, frightening the horses so that our young teamster, brother Elias, needed to be up most of the night to keep them from breaking loose.
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